


Coffee Sounds Great

by Lady_Felucia



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), kylux - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Fusion, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Awkwardness, Captain Phasma, Coming Out, Crush, Crush at First Sight, Dating, Eventual Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluffy Ending, Funny, Gay, Gay Male Character, General Hux - Freeform, Humor, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Implied Relationships, Kylo Ren - Freeform, Kylo Ren Angst, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, LGBTQ Themes, Love, M/M, Secret Crush, Senpai Notice Me, Sexuality, Short & Sweet, Short Story, Shy, Slow Romance, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) - Freeform, The Force Awakens, same sex relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 03:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12335004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Felucia/pseuds/Lady_Felucia
Summary: Ben Solo is finally finding his place in the world. He's 19, going to work and school, and recently moved into his own apartment. He has many good friends but he's always craved something more: a boyfriend.But Ben has only very recently come to terms with his sexuality, and oftentimes he's too shy and reserved to make the first move towards anyone he might be interested in.And he's certainly interested in the boy he constantly sees on the bus.





	Coffee Sounds Great

**Author's Note:**

> Happy National Coming Out Day!

_Say something, say something, say something to him, you douche._

This is the mantra that Ben Solo had been chanting to himself since he got on the bus this morning.

And every morning.

Since his car had taken a nose-dive into hell a month ago, Ben was forced to rely on the horrors of public transportation get to work each day. Which, honestly, it could have been worse. His apartment was near the very beginning of his bus's route line, meaning when he boarded, there was ample opportunity to pick a good seat.

In the back right corner was his preferred spot. People-watching had never been of much interest to him, but on the city bus, there were so many opportunities for it that Ben took advantage of it.

All kinds of people rode the rails, men, women, children, designer clothes, ragged shoes, cigarettes tucked behind the ear, headphones blaring, or simply silently staring.

There were new people and things to see everyday, and of course several 'regulars', like Ben himself.

It was another of these regulars that caught his eye.

A boy.

Tall (although not quite as tall as Ben), pale, and very slender. Short red hair that was neatly combed. Vibrant blue eyes. Light golden-brown freckles sprayed across his face and extending towards his neck.

He looked to be about Ben's age, maybe a year or two older. Whenever Ben saw him he always had a black backpack slung over one shoulder, leaving Ben to deduce that he must be a student at the community college. He must be, since his stop was always about a block and a half from the campus.

He would get on the bus, and, like Ben, he almost always picked the same spot: middle of the bus, third seat, outside end.

He would sit there, listening to his headphones or reading a book, and Ben would stare at him, hoping nobody noticed him doing so.

Ben had only come out to his friends and family as being a gay man last year, at 19 years old, and he had been met with a mixed reception. His parents, who had always been very open-minded, were very supportive. 

Some of his friends flat-out refused to believe him, arguing that they had known him for years and he had never shown the slightest inkling that he preferred men. These 'friends', unfortunately, Ben had to cut from his life. He already had enough trouble coming to accept himself for who he was; he didn't need any outside negativity to add to that.

His best female friend, Phasma, who was a lesbian, was ecstatic when he told her. She told him that she had always suspected that he was this way, but didn't want to make him uncomfortable by approaching him with it.

Since then, she had made it her mission to find him a boyfriend.

She invited him on group outings where there would be at least one other interested guy present, she set him up on blind dates.

Once, she 'surprised' him by driving the two of them almost an hour away, to a LGBT-oriented club and bar upstate.

Technically, it had been a 21 and up place, but Phasma was friends with the doorman, so they had gotten in with relative ease.

Before the end of their visit, PHASMA had scored several girls' phone numbers, and a bevy of dates for weeks to come.

The only thing Ben scored was a hangover, and a headache from the flashing strobe lights.

It wasn't that he hadn't been approached; quite the contrary, he had had multiple guys come up to him, asking him to dance, offering to buy him a drink--one guy even attempted to proposition him to follow him to the men's room.

But Ben wasn't really good at making conversation, or for that matter, simply with being comfortable in his own skin. Those who sought him quickly lost interest, after seeing that they weren't going to get very far with him.

He had thanked Phasma, later, for trying to help, but conceded that that just hadn't been his scene.

Ben had hidden his sexuality all throughout high school, and therefore had never even been on a date with another boy, not until his set-ups from Phasma. His introverted nature and reluctance to put himself out there, coupled with an almost crippling fear of rejection, made for a bit of a lonely life, for him.

And this guy on the bus . . .

Because Ben was so inexperienced, he wasn't really sure if he had a 'type', when it came to possible romantic conquests. 

What he DID know was this:

He liked the guy's red hair.

He liked the way he crossed one leg over the other, restlessly jiggling his foot.

He liked the delicate way he pulled the taut yellow cord, when signaling his stop.

Once, on a particularly crowded day, the guy had actually sat next to him. Ben had had to work hard, to sit there casually and not hyperventilate or do something likewise stupid. But it was hard, especially once he noticed how GOOD he smelled --

\-- and how much cuter he was up-close.

Ben watched, now, as the redhead got off at his stop, and he sighed to himself. He really wished he had the courage to go and sit next to him, and TALK to him.

Maybe even ask him out.

But even if Ben could work up the nerve, and the guy accepted, what could they DO?

Ben wasn't really into the whole bar or club thing, and the problem was, in Ben's mind, everything else seemed so--so personal.

Movies? Restaurant? A concert?

What exactly was it that people DID on dates, anyway?

Was it acceptable to want to ask someone to come over to his apartment, order pizza and watch movies? Or was that having too much of a high school mentality?

And there was another factor in all this: what if the redhead wasn't into guys?

Some people have what's called a 'gaydar', but, if Ben had one, it was severely defective. Short of seeing somebody kiss somebody else, he would have no clue who was into what, or with whom.

 _Oh, it doesn't matter anyway, Ben,_ he thought to himself. _That guy wouldn't want to go out with you._

But he quickly pushed that thought from his head. His mother was always going on about the power of positive thinking, and Ben saw a lot of value in what she said. He knew he spent too much time listening to the negative voices in his mind, and he knew he needed to work to overcome them. If you want good things to happen to you, you've got to think good things. 

_If you keep sitting around being depressing and thinking all this bad shit, that guy, or any other guy, would never look twice at you. So stop it._

He told himself this as he got off at his own stop, preparing to head into work.

\---

Ben had always been adept at technical things, which is why he had thought a job as a computer repair tech would be good for him. And for the most part, it was. He was able to fix a variety of problems on his own, or talk others through them.

Ben was a natural problem-solver, and his job provided him with just enough variety to keep him interested.

Of course, that wasn't always the case, especially when they had slow customer traffic, like today.

Ben was the only one in the small shop today, and hadn't had a customer in three hours. He glanced at the clock; 7pm. They closed in an hour.

Ben was leaning against the counter, thinking about just closing early and going home, when the bell on the door dinged.

He glanced up, prepared to give his usual greeting, when he froze.

It was him!  
The redhead from the bus!

Ben's mind went blank, and the only thing he could manage to squeak out was a "Hello."

"Hi," the boy said. His voice was low, and pleasant. "Do you guys repair laptops?"

Ben nodded, and the boy came closer. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the ancient-looking computer Ben had ever seen. Ben took it and looked it over gingerly. The once white paint had faded out to a dull gray, several keys were missing, and the screen had several small cracks along it.

"What's wrong with it?", he asked, turning it this way and that in his hands.

"Well, it won't turn on, for starters, and when I CAN get it on, the screen blinks in and out and it dies pretty fast, even while it's on the charger."

Ben carried it over to the work counter, and the boy followed him anxiously. "Do you have the charger with you?"

He boy went back into his backpack and brought out a long black cord. Ben plugged it in and got to work. As always, once he began focusing on something else, his nerves died away, allowing him to talk to the boy more naturally.

"Is there any chance at all you could have picked up a virus? Possibly opened an unknown file, or email? Or do you download songs frequently?"

"I guess it's possible; I go through a lot of music. But that's through iTunes. Isn't iTunes supposed to be safe?"

"Supposed to be, but you never know."

"Don't I know you?", he asked, taking a closer look at Ben.

"I don't think so."

He leaned closer, really peering at him, and Ben sent up a feverish prayer that he wasn't sweating. Or blushing.

"Are you sure? Your face looks really familiar."

As casually (he hoped) as he could, Ben said "Do you take the bus?"

Hux snapped his fingers, his face lit up in a smile. It crinkled up the corners of his eyes, making him look even more attractive.

"That's it! Okay, good, for a second there I thought I was going crazy."

"We all go a little mad sometimes," Ben said, before he could stop himself, and this time he knew he was blushing. Quoting movies in everyday conversation was a huge part of his friendship with Phasma, and he found that sometimes it carried over into other aspects of his life.

Oh, God, what a geeky thing to say, Ben. There's no way he'll get that that's from--

"Psycho?", the boy said, with a grin.

"Yeah," Ben replied, surprised. "That's weird, nobody ever knows what I'm talking abut when I quote stuff."

The boy shrugged. "Hitchcock films are my favorite."

There was more silence as Ben struggled to reboot the laptop, and then the boy was saying,

"So what's your name?"

"Ben.", Ben said, looking back up at him. "Ben Solo. What's yours?"

"Hux. Armitage Hux, actually, but I hardly ever use my first name."

"Why not?"

Hux made a face. "I've never liked my name, but it's a family name so I guess I'm stuck with it."

"Huh," Ben said, turning his attention back to the laptop. "Well, I think it's interesting. Almost as interesting as this laptop. Where'd you get this thing, anyway?"

Hux sighed and sat down at the little chair by the work-counter. "I got it really cheap from a friend. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but lately I can barely get it to turn on. And I need a laptop for school."

Ben looked up. "What are you studying at school?"

"Teaching. Hopefully in art appreciation and history."

"You go to the school here?"

Hux nodded. "I figured I'd go to this school first, get the smaller credits out of the way for cheap, then transfer to a bigger school. Save some money."

Ben nodded and looked back at the computer. He had finally gotten it on, and now he was trying to access the system harddrive.

"What about you?", Hux asked him.

"I go to the Tech school, about half an hour from here. I'm like you, getting the small stuff out of the way before moving to the big leagues."

He frowned as the computer blinked back off again. This time, it gave a little buzzing hiss.

"I hate to break it to you, Hux, but I don't think this thing is salvageable. You don't have anything really important saved on here, do you?"

Hux shook his head. "I was afraid of that. And no, I save everything to One Drive."

"Smart," Ben said, standing and stretching. He walked behind the counter and found a piece of paper, and a pen. He quickly wrote down a name and number, and slid it over to Hux.

"This guy," Ben said, pointing at the paper, "Is a good friend of mine, and of this store. Give him a call, tell him Ben Solo referred you. He'll give you a good discount on a new laptop, whenever you're ready."

Hux folded the paper and tucked it carefully into his pocket.

"Thanks, Ben. I appreciate that." He pulled his wallet from his pocket. "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing. Company policy: if we can't fix if, there's no charge."

Hux slowly put away his wallet, a frown on his face.

"I feel bad, though; you just spent almost half an hour looking at it."

Ben shrugged and smiled. "It's my job; don't worry about it."

"I have to do _something_. Um, do you like coffee?"

Ben looked at him in confusion.

"Why?"

Hux turned and pointed out the window. "I noticed there's a nice little coffee shop across the street. Maybe, after your shift, I can buy you a cup?"

Ben was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. He took such a long pause that Hux rushed on:

"I know I'm not the smoothest person in the world, but, I'd like to get to know you better. And if you don't like coffee, they have other things: cookies, smoothies, cinnamon buns . . ."

Finally, Ben smiled. 

"Coffee sounds great, Hux."

Hux's eyes lit up with relief and excitement, and his face gave Ben that adorable crinkly smile again.

"When do you get off?"

Ben glanced at his watch. "Right now, actually. I have to close up first, though."

Hux nodded, that smile still on his face.

"While you're doing that, how about I go over and get us a booth?"

Ben nodded. "Perfect. I'll see you in about 10 minutes."

Hux left, and Ben began to tidy up his work area. Before he left, he stopped in the tiny employee bathroom and fixed himself up a bit, combing his hair, straightening his clothes, reapplying a tiny dab of the cologne he was wearing.

When he was done, he gave himself a final look.

He was still smiling.

And so he locked up and headed across the street.


End file.
